The 10-man rotation, starring Danny Green’s love of snakes

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.

PF: Grantland. Zach Lowe takes a closer look at the potential for improvement in two-way threat Kawhi Leonard’s offensive game that could help the Spurs get back to the NBA finals again this season.

SF: Bullets Forever. With the Washington Wizards struggling this preseason without injured glass-clearing and rim-protecting anchor Emeka Okafor and on-hand replacements Kevin Seraphin and Jan Vesely looking like (to put it kindly) inadequate replacements, Satchel Price suggests that coach Randy Wittman abandon trying to replace Okafor entirely and instead pursues a new, faster, smaller strategy that might be riskier, but could also be more rewarding.

SG: The Point Forward. Rob Mahoney tries to dream up potential NBA finals matchups that could equal or even exceed the drama and elite-level play we saw from the Spurs and Miami Heat back in June. It’s a pretty difficult task, but, as ever, Rob does well with it and comes up with four intriguing possible face-offs.

PG: SLC Dunk. Whether Trey Burke misses eight to 12 weeks, as his agent reportedly said Monday, or something closer to half that amount, as the rookie point guard said Tuesday is “more likely,” Amar argues that neither the Utah Jazz nor their fans should experience any sort of drastic overreaction to the time the top draft pick misses or the time it takes him to get back up to speed again, since the Jazz, realistically, ain’t playing for this year anyway.

6th: HoopChalk. Joshua Riddell leafs through Brad Stevens’ Butler playbook in search of answers as to how well his NCAA offensive and defensive designs might work now that he’s the head coach of the Boston Celtics. (Spoiler alert: The latter will need way more work than the former.)

7th: SB Nation Longform. Flinder Boyd checks in with the road-trip tale of a Sacramento streetballer on an all-or-nothing cross-country hero’s quest for a shot at Rucker Park. I’ll say that I found the piece emotionally stirring, and leave it to you to take the trip for yourselves and find out why.

9th: SB Nation. The detailed explanation of how the “Space Jam” soundtrack conforms to the building of an NBA roster that you didn’t know you needed, but now surely know you can’t live without.

10th: Queen City Hoops. As Charlotte Bobcats fans await further updates on the state of major offseason acquisition Al Jefferson’s sprained right ankle, an update on how Charlotte’s been scoring the ball thus far: “The Bobcats have been nothing short of a dumpster fire, offensively, so far this preseason.” Sounds like another killer season ahead in North Carolina!

Got a link or tip for Ball Don’t Lie? Give me a shout at devine (at) yahoo-inc.com, or follow me on Twitter.